


The greatest woman I wish I knew

by Terra_Ravin



Category: Family histories - Fandom
Genre: Crossdressing, Family history can be fun sometimes, French, Gen, German soldiers, Shh its a secret, Spy - Freeform, War, World War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terra_Ravin/pseuds/Terra_Ravin
Summary: War is a hard time for many, and an even harder time for families. War has been glamorized for many a years and draws in even the youngest of lads with promises of glory.But sometimes, you don,t always get the job you expect, and get a even more critical job that may just determine who can win the war.





	The greatest woman I wish I knew

I fall onto grandma’s waterbed and complain, “Grandma! Help! My teacher says we have to write some stupid story with dialogue … but there's a catch… we have to keep a secret till the end of the story. I need your help or I’ll never get it done. I know!! Tell me a story!”

Grandma smiles. “Did I ever tell you the story of Marie and Jacqueline Dubois?” 

“No...” I reply slowly, uncertain about where this is going.

“My grandfather didn’t like to talk about the war, but one day he did tell me a story about his service in France during the Great War, and a young French woman named Marie Dubois. Marie was 5’ 1½” tall and 110 pounds - 

I cut her off impatiently, “Grandma that’s not important! Who cares what she looked like - just tell the story!”

“You want the story? Zip it!” she snaps. She continues. “Marie was not the prettiest girl in the village. Her face was bony with thin lips and a prominent nose. She had pale, smooth skin and baby-fine black hair. Her deep-set eyes were -”

“Grandma PLEASE!! Before I'm old!! I don't have all night to get this done!! Please just stick to the story - never mind the details!”

Grandma mutters about kids and respect but continues anyway. “Every morning Marie walked from their farm to the nearby village, Douaumont, pushing her baby Jacqueline in a carriage, sometimes carrying crucial information in Jacqueline's very dirty diaper. German guards were not eager to search the contents of her diaper, but she was stripped more than once to her bare skin. They weren’t gentle with Marie either. Every time she felt a hand on her she held her breath, afraid she’d be discovered. Death would be sweet compared to what they’d do if they found out her secret.”

“WHAT SECRET!?!” 

“Nu-uh. You said the secret can’t be revealed till the end.” She chuckles as she continues.   
“Every day Marie worked in the Tobacconist, eavesdropping on German soldiers, who didn’t know that she understood every word they said. Every evening she gave Jacqueline back to her real mother. Information she gathered was wired to England. Any intelligence she received was hidden in Jacqueline's diaper for her contact in the Tobacconist’ shop.

“Eeew Grandma!! That’s gross!! TMI!!”

“Why do you think they hid it there? Now where was I?”

“Uuuh - up to your elbows in poop?”

She sighs, “Smart ass. This was Marie’s life for two years. By then the battle was all around. Fighting was fierce. It was more dangerous to send them out into the German-controlled countryside. Jacqueline had become a bright, high-spirited talking two-year-old. Marie couldn’t be sure what she might say. Then one day Marie and Jacqueline disappeared.” 

“Hey?! What happened to them?!”

“I don't know what happened to Jacqueline. Her story isn’t part of my grandfather’s story. I do know that Marie Dubois was declared missing in action and presumed dead. Her body was never found, and her file permanently closed.”

“Grandma you're lying!! She can’t be dead!! What really happened?!”

“I’m sorry honey it’s true. But the real question is: who was Marie before the war?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well. Marie Dubois wasn’t her real name name, although the Germans thought it was. Marie was really a sixteen year old Canadian named Les Corbin who wanted to sign up as an ambulance driver when the war broke out. Unfortunately for Les, recruits had to be at least seventeen with parental consent. On Les’ seventeenth birthday, Mrs. Corbin signed a letter of parental consent . And so Marie Dubois was born. 

“Marie Dubois was the brainchild of a recruiting officer who had had a vision of how she  
could serve her country right from the very first time Les had walked into his office. False identification papers were drawn up and from that day on Les was known to everyone only as Marie. Marie was sent to spy school in Northern Ontario. When she finally left for Europe on a troop carrier she had no way of knowing if she’d ever see her family again. She was a real hero. But while Marie may have been declared missing in action, Les was fine. He was smuggled out of France and returned to Canada where he married his sweetheart Annie Martin. Later on they had a son, my father. When WWII broke out he was a guard in a prisoner of war camp.”

“Wait wait wait!! Hold on a moment!! Marie wasn't a she?! She was a he?! And he was your GRANDFATHER?!”

Grandma smiles cheekily, “How’s that for a surprise secret?”


End file.
